A/N: Thank you to all my readers and reviewers. Here is the last chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: All characters belong to CBS (I am not CBS, therefore I don't own them).
HUGE thanks to SallyJetson for being the world's greatest beta :hugs:
Chapter 18: Pinch Me
"Danny…. Danny, can you hear me? Come on and open your eyes." Lindsay begged as she softly patted his check.
Danny slowly opened his eyes as he began to come to. "Wh... What happened? Am I dreaming?" he asked uncertainly as he gazed up at his favorite sight.
"The fridge jumped out and bit you Cowboy." Lindsay returned with a smile, relieved that he was finally regaining consciousness. She reached out to caress his cheek before promptly pinching his arm.
"Ouch. What the hell was that for?"
"To see if you were dreaming. Apparently you aren't. Exactly how many beers have you had anyway?" she inquired as she rose to fetch some ice out of the freezer. Before opening the door, she stared at it for a second with a smirk plastered on her face. "Do you think it's okay if I open the freezer, or is it going to bite too? I might need you to protect me."
"Ha, ha, Montana. You done yet?" Danny asked as he carefully rose off the floor and grabbed onto the counter to keep his balance as the room spun around him.
"Not quite." Lindsay took her ice, wrapped it in a towel, and started to apply it to Danny's head. "I mean when you fall for a girl, you really fall for her, don't cha?"
"Speaking of falling for a girl, what are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining, but this isn't exactly a part of your fabulous 'goodbye forever' plan."
"No, I guess it's not. Maybe that was a bad plan." Lindsay stated as brown eyes locked onto blue and her body inched closer to his, all the while keeping the ice pack in place. "I thought that maybe, if it wasn't too late, we could reevaluate said plan, tweak it if you will."
"Tweak it? Like I get you every other weekend, half the holidays, and three weeks in the summer, type of tweak it." Danny responded as his free arm wrapped around her waist pulling her forward a little more.
"No, as in I just stay here." Lindsay closed the distance and lifted her chin to brush her lips softly against his. "I heard somewhere that Mac was hoping to get more money for resources, and I think I can be quite resourceful, don't you?" Lindsay's body was now firmly pressed against his as her hips slowly ground against her ever-hardening target.
"Absolutely." Danny strained as his mind quickly lost interest in the conversational portion of their interaction. "Though I may need some of this in writing... make sure you don't go running off on me again."
"Don't worry Cowboy; I'm not going anywhere." With that their lips found each other as their pent up passion was finally realized. The ice pack soon fell to the floor forgotten.
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Danny awoke the next morning to feel the sunlight on his face. A smile returned to his lips as he recalled last night and his multiple encounters with ecstasy, but the smile quickly faded as he realized what was now missing: the bed was cold and he was alone.
"Apparently this time she couldn't even say goodbye before she ran off to who-knows-where," the grumbling voice inside pelted his brain as he got out of bed, grabbing his glasses on the way.
He was on the way to relieve himself, still caught in his own world of misery, when an unfamiliar noise caught his attention. As his senses slowly awoke, he became aware of the wonderful smells coming from his kitchen. He turned the corner and stood in the doorway, content to simply watch the scene before him. Lindsay, clad loosely in one of his button ups, was dancing in the kitchen, softly signing along to the radio, as she expertly flipped a pancake a few inches into the air.
Lindsay turned to grab a plate already piled 7 inches high with her creations, and spotted her stalker. "Hey there. Coffee's ready when you are and the pancakes are almost done." She informed as she added more batter to the pan.
Danny moved to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. Lindsay continued to add batter to the pan but her pancakes were fast transforming into irregular, intersecting blobs instead of the perfect circles of the previous batches.
Danny's hand went to caress Lindsay's arm before softly pinching her flesh.
"Ouch. What was that for?"
"Just wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming and that you were really here in my kitchen," Danny explained before resuming his mission to conquer her neck (not that there was much resistance).
"If you're the one dreaming, you're supposed to be the one pinched," Lindsay instructed, eyes fluttering shut as Danny's hands explored her body and his mouth marked his newly proclaimed territory.
"Yeah." Kiss. "But this is more fun." He whispered in her ear.
"Mmmmm" Lindsay moaned as she gave into the comforts of his embrace and manipulations.
"Pancakes are burning." Danny pointed out hardly missing a beat in his continued attention to her body.
"Shit." Lindsay escaped from his grip to salvage the blobs that had now turned into half-blackened carbon and half uncooked batter. "Well at least I made a double batch."
"Yeah, I doubt we'll starve, though they're not really what I'm hungry for anyway." Danny returned with a smirk.
"You should eat, Cowboy. I want you to keep up your strength for later." Lindsay stated as she gently brushed her body against his on the way to the table.
They ate the majority of the meal in relative silence, simply content to be in each other's presence, but as they ate, Danny's world of misery slowly started to return along with his insecurities. "When I woke up this morning, and you weren't there, I thought you had left again." He shoved another bite into his mouth.
Lindsay reached for his hand across the table. "I told you I wasn't going anywhere and I meant it. Just like I meant it when I told you I loved you."
A smile materialized on his face as his misery evaporated almost instantaneously. "I love you too, Montana. Glad you decided to come back."
Lindsay rose from her chair and came over to Danny, seating herself on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I still can't believe that you went to Montana and talked to my Dad. I think you made a good impression."
"Good impression? Getting thrown out and threatened with a shotgun is what happens when you make a good impression with your father? I would hate to see what would happen if you made a bad one."
"Fertilizer. You would have become fertilizer," Lindsay teased as she ran her fingers through his hair.
A few moments passed as Danny gathered the courage to ask his next question. "So you and Jason…?"
"We talked. I think he was hurt but understood, and we both realized we weren't what the other really wanted or needed."
Danny sat quietly pondering for an instant. "Just so we're clear, I'm the one you want, right? There ain't no one else coming out of the woodwork?"
"Yes Danny. You're the only one I want, and this is where I belong. Sorry it took me so long to realize that." Lindsay reassured with a smile. "It seems to me like I might still need to prove that to you, maybe starting with the bedroom?"
Danny didn't think twice as he rose with her in his arms to carry out her request. She was finally back in his life and his arms, and this time neither one would be letting go.
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A/N: As I said that was the last chapter. Thanks again for everyone who continued to read my fic. Hopefully that was the ending you were hoping for :)